


The Builder, The Homemaker, The Entrepreneur, & The Performer

by Harryissuchalittleshit



Series: Jackson Family [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: College, F/M, How the Jackson Children make meaning in they're lives, I doubt anyone will read it, I just want to get it posted, This story will probably not make any sense, life decisions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24465361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harryissuchalittleshit/pseuds/Harryissuchalittleshit
Summary: Charles, the architect.Bianca, the chef.Lucas, the artist.Malcolm, the actor."It isn't where you came from. It's where your going that counts." - Ella FitzgeraldThey start lost, they start with no direction, they find their dreams in the end.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Bianca Jackson/Nick Candance, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Charles Jackson/Zoe Valdez, Estelle Blofis/Hermes, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Lucas Jackson/Violet Davis, Magnus Chase/Alex Fierro, Malcolm Jackson/Hayley Shine, Paul Blofis/Sally Jackson
Series: Jackson Family [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/838851
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. The Builder (Charles)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story about Annabeth and Percy's children and what they decide to do with their lives after graduating high school. Some have plans, others have no idea, either way, the four of them figure it out with a little help.

**Part One:**

_The Builder_

_If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door._

_\- Milton Berle_

~ Percy

“Okay class,” said Mrs. Whitfield, “as all of you know, today is career day. All of you have asked a parent or grandparent to come in and tell us about their careers.”

I smiled and ruffled Charlie’s hair, he had been talking about this all week and most of last week. Though he had asked Annabeth to come, Aphrodite had different plans today, demanding that she come to Olympus at once to fix her temple or something like that. She was upset, and the pregnancy hormones didn’t help either, but I reminded her that it was getting close to the end of the year, and plenty of volunteer opportunities were still popping up.

Piper sighed from beside me, as the first parent went up and started to talk about accounting. Stephan was still working on his career drawing at his part of the table in front of her. She looked uncomfortable, we had been asked to dressed professional or in our uniforms (I was wearing my aquarium uniform), the tiny chairs that they had us sitting in was making her clothes pull at weird angles, the baby bump didn’t help either.

“What does Stephan want to be?” I whispered, she rolled her eyes.

“A politician,” she told me, then, “I blame this on Jason, he’s starting teaching our kids about the presidents.”

“I hope he doesn’t forget about the racism, slavery, and Trail of Tears,” I told her, she smacked my arm and put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

“Percy, that’s not funny.”

“I don’t know why you’re laughing then.”

She rolled her eyes, “what about Charlie? And where’s Annabeth, I thought she was coming?”

“Aphrodite had other plans for Annabeth, but you know Charlie, mama’s boy through and through,” I told her, she smiled, “he wants to be an architect just like Annabeth.”

“No marine biologist?”

“Maybe the new one.”

“Yeah, we’ll see,” she said, rubbing her own bump.

“Mr. Jackson, would you like to share with the class what your career is?” asked Mrs. Whitfield, I stood up and grabbed my brief case.

After I explained how I worked with the animals at the aquarium to prepare them to go back into the wild, and showed them a few training methods, I answered a few questions and sat back down behind Charlie. He had finished his career day drawing a while ago, but I couldn’t help but smile when I looked at it, he drew the city skyline, full of buildings and bridges.

One day, he would be the one designing a city skyline.

**~CPJ Fourteen Years Later~**

~ Charles

“M.I.T., so Boston,” said Annabeth, she was looking over my shoulder at the paperwork Mr. Barer, my guidance consular, had given me. Being a new transfer, a senior, and from an advance private school in San Francisco, it gave me both an edge and disadvantage, especially because he knew Bianca.

Being associated with Bianca when it came to school and academics wasn’t something I was proud of.

I was sure that she wasn’t either.

“Yeah, I’ve wanted to go for years, but I have some safety schools too,” I told her, nervously running a hand through my hair, something that I shared with Percy.

“I see,” she said leafing through the other papers, the other schools. “You really applied to all of these? I’m impressed Charles.”

“Thanks,” I said, she smiled down at me and ruffled my hair.

“I am though, and I have a cousin in Boston that would let us stay with him if you wanted to tour up there,” she said, picking up her phone and walking towards the kitchen.

“Really? We can go tour?”

“Yeah, set up a date and I’ll call Magnus,” she said, and I pulled out my laptop from my bag.

~`~

“I’ll miss you,” Zoe told me, I brushed a stray curl behind her ear. “I wish I could go with you.”

“Next year, I’ll be the one giving you a tour,” I told her, then kissed her forehead. “It’s only the weekend, I’ll be back Sunday night.”

“I know, just please text me when you get there?”

“I’ll call before bed too.”

She smiled up at me, then her car horn blared and we both jumped, I glared at Bianca in the passenger seat. Zoe had dropped us off at the train station, and Bianca was determined to come too, not to say goodbye though.

Zoe kissed my cheek, then turned on her heel and walked back to her car. Annabeth was rolling her eyes at Bianca, then motioned for me to follow her.

“Why is she so mean to me?”

“Charles,” she said to me as we scanned our tickets and climbed onto the train, “this has been a big change for all of you, the four of you just have to get use to each other. I know it’s been a struggle, this has all been hard on your father and me too.”

“She just moved to a new borough, Lucas and I moved across the country, if anything, she and Malcolm are better off,” I said, she sighed, and handed me her bag to put into the overhead bin.

“Look Charles,” Annabeth said once we settled ourselves into our seats, “I really don’t know what I could tell you about Bianca, or Malcolm, or even Lucas. I know that all four of you are stressed out about the new living conditions, believe me, moving to a new a state or even a new home is stressful, but one way or another, the four of you are going to have work things out on your own.”

I wanted to keep discussing the matter, but I knew it was hopeless, Annabeth was right.

The first half of the train ride was crowded and loud, with people getting on and off the train at different intervals, but once we really started heading north, it quieted down. At some point, Annabeth had taken out a book about engineering that Zoe had me read over the summer, and I took out my math homework. I didn’t have trouble with homework like my siblings, I wasn’t dyslexic, and this caused a bit of friction between the four of us, as I refused to help them, I didn’t want to end up doing the work for them.

“Charles,” said Annabeth, as the attendant told us we had a half hour until Boston. “There’s something I need to tell you, it’s about my cousin Magnus.”

“Is he a demigod too?” I asked her, not even bothering to look up from my book.

“Yes, but he’s not Greek or Roman,” she said, I looked up at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Magnus is a son of Frey, the Norse god of summer,” she said, I nodded, “he lives in the Hotel Valhalla as an einherji, and he also helps run a homeless shelter for teenagers at our uncle’s mansion.”

“But he’s dead,” I said, knowing that I sounded crazy, this seemed crazy.

“Yes, but he’s family,” said Annabeth, “and he’s letting us stay with him, Alex even cleaned up a room for us.”

“Alex?”

“Magnus’ genderfluid partner, they’re really good about sharing they’re pronouns, and normally Alex goes by she/her, but I want you to be respectful please,” she said, I nodded, thinking of Mr. Czerny who would change they’re name from Mr. to Miss depending on they’re pronouns for the day.

“Okay,” I said, wondering what bombshell Annabeth was planning on dropping next. Maybe Bianca was actually adopted, that might help solve some problems.

“When I called this morning, they said that they would be waiting for us at the front entrance of the South station by the Blitzen’s Best outlet,” she said, I nodded as she went back to her book.

I couldn’t concentrate on my math homework for the rest of the ride, I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea that Norse demigods were running around with us too. I also wondered if they had a camp or if it was just this Hotel Valhalla. I was sure though, that I would learn more from Annabeth’s cousin than if I asked her.

When we got to the train station, we followed the signs to the front entrance, where two people stood holding signs that said ‘Jackson’.

“Annabeth!” yelled a guy around my age, he had short dirty blonde hair and the same gray eyes as Annabeth. He was wearing hiking boots, beat up jeans, and a Nirvana t-shirt with flannel over the top.

Annabeth rushed forward and hugged the guy, and I could see the family resemblance. Grandpa Frederick had a picture of himself with his siblings, Magnus looked like his mother Natalie. But it was the grey eyes that they shared that made me wonder if it was a god thing, or if they both inherited it from Randolph.

The girl standing beside Magnus had short green hair with dark roots showing, and eyes two shades of brown. She was smaller than both Annabeth and Magnus, even smaller than Zoe. She looked comfortable though in a lime green dress with a dark pink jacket and beat up rose colored high tops.

I sighed, Bianca would love her style.

“How was the train ride?” I heard Magnus asked, which made me look away from Alex.

“It was fine, Magnus you remember my oldest son Charles, right?” Annabeth said, motioning me to come closer.

“Aww, how cute,” said Alex, taking the turn to hug Annabeth, “he looks like you Annabeth, with some Percy in there.”

“You should see Bianca then,” I said, shaking Magnus’ hand, “she looks just like her.”

“Bianca, Lucas, and Malcolm, right?” asked Magnus, looking at Annabeth.

“Yeah, I have pictures of all four of them,” said Annabeth, and I blushed, which made Alex laugh.

“You two hungry, we know a great spot for free food,” said Alex, grabbing Annabeth’s bag from her, “my sister Sam knows the owners.”

“Sam’s married to the owner,” said Magnus leading the way out.

**~CPJ~**

Fadlan's Falafel was located in the transportation center, which Magnus told me be a place that I could visit often if I ended up going to MIT. The bus system here looked a lot less confusing than it was in New York.

The owner, who introduced himself as Amir Fadlan, delivered our food personally. His three children, a little girl Ayesha wearing jeans and a blue hijab who was about six, and two older twin boys Daniyal and Naveed in matching aprons who had to be around Malcolm’s age at thirteen or fourteen.

I stayed quiet as Annabeth caught up with Magnus and Alex, letting her talk about Alaska and the quest.

Ayesha wormed her way onto Magnus’ lap and ate off of his plate, which he didn’t seem to mind, especially as Alex also ate off of his plate.

“So Charles,” said Alex, and I stood up straighter as she addressed me, “why MIT? Aren’t there any schools in New York you want to go to?”

“I applied and toured a few of them, but I’ve always wanted to go to MIT…and my girlfriend, Zoe is pretty much guaranteed a spot if she wants it. She’s a granddaughter of Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, she’s already a talented engineer,” I told her, and just talking about Zoe made me remember to text her, tell her that we were here.

She replied almost immediately with a picture of herself and Bianca sitting at café table eating lunch.

I smiled and took a picture of Magnus and Ayesha, with the caption of ‘lunch thief’.

After lunch, Magnus and Alex took us on a walking tour of South Boston, pointing out landmarks and historical sites. I was amazed with the sights, New York City had a lot of founding history all over the five boroughs, but Boston had more than I could imagine.

The later the day got, the more tired I felt, everything was so stimulating, I felt both mentally and physically exhausted. I was beyond grateful when Magnus led us to a house with a bright and cheery sign labeled Chase Space: Youth Homeless Shelter.

I was slightly shocked with how homey and worn the house was, with teenagers filling any and all spaces. The only out of place people, beside Annabeth, were two men in the midst of the group. They weren’t much older than Annabeth, and they both looked excited to see Magnus and Alex.

“Hey kid,” said the darker of the two men, he was also shorter than his companion, but he made up for this with his well put together outfit. He looked too well dressed to be in a homeless shelter, but then again, so did Alex. “Is this the family?”

He also moved his hands in a way that I recognized, sign language. Zoe had started to teach me sign language and Morse code when we came back from camp, sometimes sound was just too much for her to process, so having a different way to communicate was helpful.

The other man signed, “they all look alike B.”

He was taller with pale skin and hair almost as blonde, he wore all black, except for a red and white checkered silk scarf. He smiled at Annabeth and me, and I felt compelled to return the smile.

“This is Blitz and Hearth,” said Magnus, signing as he spoke, “their close friends of mine.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, signing to them.

Hearth led us up to rooms on the third floor, signing that they were only for family guests. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the bed, I couldn’t believe how tired I was.

**~CPJ~**

“This is Simon’s Hall, one of our co-ed student dorms,” said Maria, our student tour guide. I was really quite impressed with how thorough she had been; she knew everything there was to know about MIT, about the history of the campus and each building, about what kind of classes were held in each hall and classroom we passed. There was only ten of us in our group, three mechanical engineers and myself, along with one parent each. She was even able to answer all the questions that Annabeth had asked, some of which I was sure would stump her.

“I actually live here, and we have the opportunity to tour a double room today,” she said leading us into the building.

The rooms were about average size, but with the elevated beds, it maximized the space, with being able to have the desk under the bed. I could already see myself hanging up drawings and pictures in the space.

We had lunch after our tour, then Maria led us to the advisors offices. I knew that this was going to be the real challenge, I knew that Annabeth was going to ask thousands of questions, so I sat back and got comfortable.

“Charles,” said Annabeth, she was gripping the tour map in her hands a little too tightly, “don’t you want to know more about potential classes.”

I sat up, I really hadn’t expected this.

“What classes will I need to take to for a bachelor degree in architectural design?”

“We have two undergraduate degrees in architecture, the first is a more specific study of architecture and the other is more broad for architectural design. I’m sure that you’ll want to go with the later, but it’s a good idea if we go over the class schedule for both,” said the advisor, he was an older man in his late fifties with a large bald spot in the middle of his head.

As he went over and described each aseptic of the classes I could take for each degree, I felt myself grow excited. This was what I wanted to learn, I could even imagine myself sitting in the classrooms, the library, and in one of the dorm rooms, studying for these courses.

“What about scholarships?” asked Annabeth, instantly, I remember that I didn’t have much money saved up, I didn’t have a job other than the summer I carted Piper’s equipment around for her. I always figured that I would be able to get scholarships, and as the advisor printed out forms and told me that I needed to write a strong essay to even be consider for acceptance.

Annabeth put a hand on my shoulder as I felt myself sink, the advisor told her that moving schools during senior year, especially going from private to public school didn’t help me.

Leaving the office, I felt my dreams and ambitions leave me, I would never be able to come here.

**~CPJ~**

“Don’t worry, you’ll get in, you’ll be fine,” said Zoe, we were on my bed, Annabeth and I arrived home over four hours ago, but now, with Zoe here, I let myself feel upset.

“I’ve worked so hard for years, Zoe. I felt so close, and now it’s been taken away again,” I told her, she pulled me to her chest and stroked my hair.

“I can help with your essays,” she offered, “and if you don’t get in this year, you start working on your gen eds and apply next year with me.”

“I don’t want to stay here next year,” I told her, and her hands stilled, “I want to go to school, and scout out apartments for us to live in when you come up. I want to able to get our future started.”

Zoe opened her mouth to say something, but we were interrupted as the door opened. Annabeth didn’t look surprise or upset to see Zoe, despite the late hour, she did close the door behind her though.

“Charles, can I talk to you?” she asked, I swung my legs off the bed and sat up, Zoe did the same and tucked herself into my arm.

“What about?” I asked her.

“I was thinking about MIT, and I know how upset you were about what the advisor told you,” she said, I looked away from her, and down at my lap. “But I think I know a way for you to go to school, for all four of you to go to school that is.”

I looked up at her, “how?” I asked.

“My mother,” she said, “but first, you need to get accepted to MIT.”

“He’ll get in,” said Zoe, smiling up at me, “and if your mother doesn’t pay, I’m sure I could get my abuelo too.”

“Okay then,” said Annabeth sharing a smile with Zoe, “now get to bed you two, you have school tomorrow.”

Zoe blushed, but laid back down on the bed as Annabeth left the room, I laid down beside her.

“You really think that my grandmother will pay for college?” I asked her.

“It depends if you get accepted or not.”

**~CPJ – Six Months Later~**

“It’s the big envelope,” said Malcolm, dropping the mail on the kitchen counter, Bianca rolled her eyes.

“How many schools did you apply for, two hundred?” she asked, there was something in her tone that made the hair on my neck stand up, jealousy, spite?

“Which one is it?” asked Lucas, sorting through the envelopes.

Most of the colleges I had applied to, sent me early admission letters, giving me information on their engineering or architecture programs and degrees, along with dorm sheets and slips for money deposits.

This envelope was bigger than most of the others, and it weighed more than any of the others. I wanted to see which school it came from, but I had also promised Annabeth and Percy to wait until they were home to open any college envelopes.

“Are you going to open it?” asked Malcolm bouncing slightly in his seat across from me, he had his English homework in front of him, his worst subject and his least favorite because of it.

I knew this was his way of getting out of doing homework, it was the same for Bianca and Lucas, but a promise was a promise, I couldn’t do that to Percy and Annabeth.

“Not yet,” I told him, putting it on the bottom of the pile, “not until Annabeth and Percy get back.”

Lucas frowned, and I knew it wasn’t because I didn’t want to open the envelope. Malcolm and Lucas had accepted Percy and Annabeth so easily into their lives, they had wanted parents so badly, that they had blindly given them their trust. It was the only thing that Bianca and I shared, and maybe it was because we spent so much of our lives being told that we were like our parents, but calling Percy and Annabeth mom and dad was just too much at this time in our relationship.

Bianca started making dinner not much later, and Lucas wandered upstairs to his room, while Malcolm tried to understand his homework without any help. I went to work on another essay, for another scholarship. I had enough funds for books and dorm costs, but I still couldn’t afford tuition, and that was the biggest expense of them all.

When Percy and Annabeth came home, both tired in different ways, we sat down for dinner. This was the main stipulation of the house, Sunday through Friday, except for Tuesday, we all were required to be with the family for dinner. Five days of the week, we all sat together, talked about our day, and ate whatever Bianca had made.

Percy always started, waiting until everyone had started to eat, before launching into some crazy story about his day at the aquarium, then he picked someone at random to ask them about their day. I had thought that this was dumb, Grandpa Frederick had never done this with us, most of the time, if he even was home for dinner, he would spend it in his study. Bianca and Malcolm though, took this in stride, talking over each other for the funniest story or event, and even Lucas had warmed up to the ritual.

“What about you Charles?” asked Percy, Lucas had told him about Poseidon showing up in his Biology class, while Malcolm had a story about Grandad Paul making them sword fight in his English class, and Bianca had talked about her Harpy substitute in History.

“Nothing interesting happened today,” I told him, as nothing interesting had happened.

“You got another acceptance letter,” said Bianca darkly, and I suddenly understood why she was angry, her boyfriend, Nick probably hadn’t gotten a letter yet.

I knew that I shouldn’t feel smug about this, but I had gotten early acceptance to nine out the twelve schools I applied to. Maybe this would prove to Bianca that doing your homework and staying out of trouble at school really meant something.

Annabeth got up and grabbed the stack of mail off the kitchen counter, when she sat back down, she handed me the envelope.

It was addressed to me, like I saw earlier, and when I looked at the return address, I felt my heart skip a beat.

This was from MIT.

With slightly shaky hands, I opened the envelope, inside was not only an acceptance letter, but also information about student housing, my degree courses, and a detailed map of campus.

“I got in,” I said, feeling tears prickle at my eyes.

“Where?” asked Lucas, pushing his peas around his plate.

“MIT.”

“No shit,” he said smiling, which caused Percy to tell him off for language.

“Congratulations,” said Malcolm, and I knew that he didn’t know how big of a deal this was for me, but Lucas did, and so did Annabeth.

“I’m proud of you Charles,” said Annabeth, standing up and pulling me into a hug.

I didn’t see it, but I heard the chair fall over, then the sound of angry footsteps as Bianca left the room. I didn’t want to know what that was about, she wasn’t going to ruin this high for me.

“You should let Jason and Piper know,” said Percy, reaching over and ruffling my hair, “they’ll be happy for you.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, though I was thinking about Zoe more than Jason and Piper.

This led though to the other problem.

Athena.

**~CPJ~**

Olympus was warm, and bright, and still under construction. Demigods and Gods wandered through the streets on their way to see and do the impossible.

Annabeth and I though, were on a mission, a quest of our own.

When we walked up the steps to Athena’s temple, I felt myself start to grow nervous. What if this didn’t work?

As we were about to walk into the temple, Athena appeared. The thing about Athena was this, she was scary and very intimidating. Annabeth had the same piercing gray eyes, but having Athena look at me with them made my skin crawl.

“What are the two of you doing here?” she asked as she began to walk down her steps.

We followed after her, which was difficult as she moved so quickly down the stairs we had just come up. I started to jog just to keep up with her, Annabeth right on my heels.

“I need to ask you a favor!”

She stopped abruptly and I almost ran into her. Athena turned to look down at me and I felt incredibly small.

“What kind of favor?” she asked, she looked like a statue, cold and ready to fight.

“I got accepted to MIT,” I told her, looking her in the eyes, “but I don’t have enough money to go.”

“You want me to pay for something that you should earn?” she asked, I nodded. “You do know that I have children who ask this of me every day?”

“Then make it a scholarship,” I told her, “have us write essays or create presentations for how we’ll use our education to make the world a better place. Have it be open to anyone, or to only your children and grandchildren.”

Her gaze sharpened, and I wondered if she was thinking over the risks, the possible outcomes.

“What is your proposal then? How would you use your degree to make the world better?” she asked me, I felt myself calm down as she looked at Annabeth.

“Mom’s cousin Magnus owns a youth homeless shelter in Boston,” I told her, feeling more confident now that Athena wasn’t looking at me. “It’s in an old mansion, but they could use a bigger space to take in more kids. If they had a proper building, they would be able to step up home school, consoling, and college prep programs. They could have a medical wing and a gym, and rooms for anyone to come to if there’s a disaster.

“I could also help update the shelters here in New York,” I told her, feeling jittery and even more nervous now that she wasn’t looking at me. “I could take this initiative all over the US and even the world. It would help more than just kids and teenagers, there are other demigods all over the world who are living on the streets, even your own children.”

Athena closed her eyes for a few seconds, then nodded. “Fine then, I’ll pay for your college, but I want a proper proposal written up and presented to me by the time you graduate from college. You better succeed in your chosen line of work, if not I will be very disappointed in you.”

Athena turned on her heel and walked away from us, I turned to Annabeth smiling. “Did you hear that? I- Are you crying?”

I thought that she would be happy, but seeing Annabeth cry made me feel bad. I pulled her into a hug, hoping that maybe this would make her feel better.

“You called me mom,” she whispered, holding me tighter.

“Yeah,” I said, feeling a wave of emotion. “That’s because you are my mom.”

“You haven’t called me that since you were four Charles,” she said pulling away from me, she smiled up at me and I felt myself smile down at her.

“You took me to Boston to tour a school I didn’t even know I would be accepted to, you were proud of me for getting into a school I didn’t even know I would get into, and you brought me all the way to Olympus to ask your mother to pay for my classes. You’ve believed in me for the last year even when I didn’t,” I told her, feeling a lump in my throat, “When I told you that I wanted to be an architect like you, you took me out of school just so I could tour your office.”

I felt tears prickle in my eyes, this was only the beginning. Annabeth taught me how to drive in New York, how to use the subway system, she took me with her to see the Yankee’s play, and she also told me all the best places to take Zoe out on dates. I started to cry as I thought of all the things she did for me that no one else would’ve.

“You helped me build a door, now I have the chance to walk through it. You helped me become the builder,” I told her as my vision became blurry and distraught from the tears.

She wrapped her arms around me tightly, and kissed my cheek.

“Thank you, mom, I love you.”


	2. The Homemaker (Bianca)

**Part Two:**

_The Homemaker_

_The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle._

_Steve Jobs_

~ Sally

I smoothed down Bianca’s curls, missing her blonde hair, even though she still looked so much like Annabeth, the blonde curls really pulled it all together. She had finished her drawing, a house with a big front porch and lots of windows, and was now leaning over and talking to her best friend, Zoe Valdez.

Leo Valdez, Zoe’s father and Bianca’s godfather, tapped his fingers on his leg and chair nervously, trying and failing to pay attention to the speaker.

It was career day at preschool, and the teachers were inviting each student’s choice of parent to speak to the class. It made me feel heartbroken as I remembered Annabeth talking about how she wanted to go, Percy had to step in last year for Charles because one of the Gods made it clear they needed Annabeth on Olympus.

“Piper said that this was really boring,” Leo whispered to me, he seemed to still a bit as he spoke, like all that nervous energy was able to release itself through words. “I wished I believed her.”

I smiled, as I looked at the detailed drawing that Zoe had just finished. She like her father loved machines, she had made a pretty good replica of a car engine on her paper.

“It’s always boring hearing others talk about their jobs,” I told him, remembering Percy’s own career day. “Especially because they think the kids are actually interested.”

Leo covered his mouth to hide a laugh, then asked me, “so what do you think Bi’s going to be? When she decides to grow up?”

I smiled at him, Leo and his wife Calypso had done so much for Paul and me. From taking Bianca to school every day to coming over at two in the morning to sing to Malcolm. I had no idea how I would ever repay them, because giving them sweets and babysitting their four children didn’t seem like it would ever be enough.

“I don’t know,” I told him, smoothing down Bianca’s curls once again, “but that’s the great thing about children, you get to watch them grow up and decide for themselves.”

**~BSJ - Fourteen Years Later~**

~ Annabeth

“Bianca, you’re a junior in high school, you need to start thinking about your future and less about boys,” I told her as I looked over the failed English test she was having me sign. I read over the note at the bottom of the page, if she failed her next test then we would have to go to a parent/teacher conference.

“I have two years before I graduate Annabeth!” she yelled at me as she began to take out pots and pans for dinner. “And Nick helps me study!”

“Yeah right,” said Charles from his seat at the table, Malcolm sat across from him with his math book open, while Lucas sat beside him, doodling on his history homework. “The guy failed that class, how is he supposed to know anything.”

“Shut up Charles!” she said, and I sighed.

“Look,” I said to Bianca, “I’m not Nick’s mother, I don’t care if he passes or fails his classes; but if you keep failing English, then you won’t be able to work for Chris, and you won’t be able to enjoy your Christmas break because you’ll be making up your school work.”

“I hate this class though,” she said as she began her dinner prep work. “It’s so boring Annabeth, and Percy doesn’t seem to care.”

I sighed, how was she not getting this, her school work came before all other commitments, it was what I told her when she started dating Nick after homecoming. It was worrying me that all she cared about was him and working for Chris’ catering company.

“Your father is not going to be happy when he sees this,” I told her, as I signed my name at the top next to Bianca’s, “your grades come first, that was the agreement when you came home from camp this summer. Junior year is very important, colleges look at this year to determine your aptitude, if you don’t have good grades and test scores you’re not going to get into any good schools.”

“What if I don’t want to go to college?” she said, and it was all I could do to keep myself from ripping my hair out.

“We’ll talk more when Percy gets home, okay?”

She mumbled something under her breath, and a moment later I heard a sizzle as onions were dumped into a hot pan.

**~BSJ - Two Months Later~**

Percy thread his fingers through mine as we walked through Olympus. Chiron had asked us to help led the camp through Olympus for the Solstice meeting, so here we were in the green alumni shirts walking through Olympus. Normally, I wouldn’t have minded this, giving a walking tour of Olympus, the city I had designed myself, but seeing Bianca and Nick take up the rear end of the group, I wasn’t feeling too happy. Percy liked Nick, thought he was nice and funny, and he was, he was nice to Malcolm, Lucas, and Charles, even when Bianca wasn’t. But I couldn’t help but see how distracting he was, a year older than her, with no care of his future, or her’s. With his motorcycle, horrible job, and even more horrible haircut, I couldn’t bring myself to respect him.

At least Bianca had brought all of her grades up to solid B’s, which meant that her history and world geography classes had slipped from A’s to B’s. She had at least started going to a few SAT prep classes with Zoe and a few other girls they knew. At least it was one step in the right direction, even if Nick was three steps back.

What really worried me though, was that she was only doing these things to make me happy. Charles was already being accepted to a few of his top choice schools for next year, while Bianca hadn’t even asked to go on any tours. She had even thrown away the scholarship papers I had given her. I kept waiting for her to come to me and ask me about schools, but I didn’t even know what she wanted to major in. Charles and even Lucas, knew what they wanted to do when they graduated.

I watched as the two of them ran up the last few steps and disappeared inside the Gods throne room. I tried to spot them in the crowd, but they disappeared in the mass of orange t-shirts. Hopefully, this meeting wouldn’t be as bad as our last, or at least Bianca would hold her tongue this time.

**~BSJ - Two Weeks Later~**

“Knock, knock,” I said to the open door, Bianca looked up from her desk. She had come back from her quest two days ago, and hadn’t want to share a single detail. She hadn’t even told Malcolm, or even Zoe. I was starting to get worried, maybe it was time I took her to see Will.

“You can just knock, you don’t have to say the words,” she snapped as she closed the book in front of her.

“Can I come in?” I asked, waiting patiently just outside the door frame, from the next door down, I could hear a loud steady beat from Lucas and Malcolm’s room. I knew for a fact that this had to be Lucas, Malcolm was downstairs with Percy. Across the hall, Charles’ door was open, but he was out with Zoe.

“Yeah,” she said, sounding defeated and sad. “Close the door please.”

I closed the door behind me and walked in, I sat down opposite of her on her bed. Her room was pristine, with all of her clothes put away and her books on their shelves, it was a complete turnaround from how she left it two weeks ago.

The quest had been unexpected and unwanted, taking away her whole Christmas break.

“Bianca,” I said, knowing exactly what I wanted to say. “You know th-“

She started crying and I watched as she pulled herself inward, drawing her legs to her chest. I stood up on instinct alone, within seconds I was smoothing down her hair and trying my best to comfort her. This was so unexpected that I couldn’t even process what had happened.

“I keep messing up,” she said through a very shaky sob, “with you, and Percy, and Nick. I’m no good at this demigod stuff.”

I had a feeling I knew what this was about, the quest had taken Bianca and Nick all the way across the country to the underworld. Along the way they had stopped in at New Orleans, where Hazel had welcomed them, only to get stuck in Las Vegas by Aphrodite for five days, then to LA, all of which had been a waste of time. The artifact they needed had been here, my old knife that I had once lost in Tartarus. Lucas had it, and he chased them all the way to Olympus to get it back.

It had been a pointless quest meant to teach Bianca a bit of respect.

When Lucas told me about the way Zeus had laughed at her, it took all of my strength to not go up there myself and punch him in the face. Zeus and Hera weren’t names we used to celebrate joyful occasions in this house, between the two of them, they ruined all of our lives.

“It’s okay,” I told her, making her get out of her chair, “you’re not bad at being a demigod Bianca.”

“I should’ve known they were trying to waste my time,” she said, wiping her eyes as she sat down on the bed with me. I ran my hand through her hair, letting my fingers get tangled in her curls.

“It’s fine,” I told her, rubbing her back with my other hand, holding her close to me, “the amount of time’s they’ve wasted my time is tremendous. Plus you can’t be a bad demigod, you’re alive right now. I knew demigods that had been trained longer than you that died when they were younger than you.”

“I…” she paused, and held herself tight, “I had…I had sex with Nick. In Vegas, Aphrodite had us stay in a honeymoon suite, she said that we were a beautiful love story.”

“What?” I asked her, I felt angry, so angry, but then Bianca started crying again.

“It ruined everything,” she said, burying her face in her hands. “It was too soon, and now everything is horrible. He hasn’t called me or text me since we got back, and…and I’m really scared that we fucked up. What if he doesn’t love me anymore because of this?”

“Come on,” I told her, getting to my feet, she looked up at me with a tear stained face.

“Where a-“

“Put your boots on and meet me in the car,” I told her as I left her room.

I went downstairs where Percy and Malcolm were watching TV. “Percy, why don’t you order some pizza for you and the boys? I’m taking Bianca out, and no, I don’t know when we’ll be home.”

“Okay,” he said, looking up at me concerned, “is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” I told him as I heard Bianca come downstairs, “it will be, I promise.”

I kissed his cheek quickly and followed Bianca out to the car. I knew what I needed to do, Bianca was my only daughter, and even though I didn’t like Nick, Bianca did, that was all that mattered too.

I drove through the streets until we had crossed over the bridge into Manhattan, then I kept driving, passing by places that I would rather be going than where I was. Bianca stared out the window the whole time, not even looking up when I turned on the radio.

“Okay,” I said stopping outside Sally and Paul’s apartment complex. I parked just in front of the building, and turned to Bianca as I shut off the car. “We have two options right now, Bianca. We can go and see your Nana, because I know you’ll talk to her and tell her what happen.”

She looked up at me at the mere mention of Sally, her face hopeful, but her eyes still sad.

“Or you can take me to Nick’s apartment,” I told her, knowing that she would go for it. She had been trying to get Percy and me over there for the last month and a half. She wanted us to meet his mom, Carolynn. The only reason I had for not going, was because I didn’t want to admit to myself that they were serious.

“I want to go see him,” she said, nervously playing with her dark hair. It was a habit that I had and couldn’t break for the life of me, a habit she inherited that I hadn’t noticed until now.

“Let’s go then,” I said, opening my door and stepping out into cold.

She followed me out of the car, then began walking away from Sally and Paul’s apartment and towards the Empire State building. As we got closer, I started to worry about how close we were getting, until she took a left turn and we started in the opposite direction. A few minutes later, she stopped in front of the ‘old’ apartment complex that Percy and Sally lived in. This was back before Percy and I had even been friends, back when Smelly Gabe was in his and Sally’s life.

I felt a sense of dread as she pushed the button for the Cadence’s apartment. No one answered, and I didn’t hear any audible click of a lock releasing, but after a few minutes, when I was about to suggest we leave, the door opened. Standing before us in a pair of jeans, no shoes, and a faded CHB t-shirt was Nick. His hair was sticking up at odd angles like he had been laying on it, and the left side looked like it had been freshly buzzed down.

I didn’t like Nick, I didn’t like his weird haircut, or his ear piercings, or his motorcycle death traps, and the leather jacket that he normally wore, but I loved Bianca. Which is why I didn’t say anything to Nick in that moment, because she was smiling for the first time in two days.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her, then recoiled when he saw me.

“I brought her here,” I told him, taking a half step to the side to get in his line of vision. “Because I want my only daughter to be happy, and you are what makes her happy.”

He looked at me, and I understood in that moment what Bianca loved about him, his shy confidence, defiance of social norms, and his dark blue eyes. “I know this quest made things a lot more serious for the two of you, but that’s how life works. I met my husband when I was twelve, and a not even a whole week later, we were thrown on a quest together. Percy is my best friend and the love of my life, and I don’t want to see the two of you break up because of a mistake the two of you made in the heat of a moment,” I told him, and he looked pass me at Bianca, who I could sense was just behind me, ready to take those few steps forward if need be.

“I’m sorry, Bianca,” he said, walking down the steps into the cold.

I stepped out of the way, and Bianca moved forward, hugging Nick tightly. I smiled to myself as they kissed, even if I didn’t approve of Nick now, I could possibly change my opinion later.

**~BSJ - Five Months Later~**

“Where is Bianca? She was supposed to meet us at home,” I said to Percy while we walked into Lucas’ tech center building. We were meeting up with Leo and Calypso, as Zoe and Diana along with Lucas were all making presentations tonight. Rachel had sent us a letter (then came over) that told us that we were invited to a ceremony where the top students gave presentations and the teachers gave tours of the building. Percy was more excited that there was a free dinner involved.

“She told me that she would meet us here,” said Percy fiddling with his jacket buttons, I sighed and took his hand so he didn’t rip off any of the buttons.

Charles and Malcolm walked in front of us and I smiled as Charles held the door open for me. Just inside the doorway, looking more cleaned up than even at their own wedding, Leo and Calypso stood with their son Nico. Malcolm was already with them, laughing at something Nico said.

Behind us, the door opened and Nick rushed in, wearing a nice blazer and dark pants. He had started growing his hair back out for camp last month, and also for graduation. He smiled at us as he entered, and shook Percy’s hand in greeting.

“I’m not late, am I?” he asked, nervously flattening his hair.

“Nope,” said Leo, smiling as he led the way through the halls. “This thing always starts a little late.”

“Leo,” said Calypso annoyed, but she took his arm that he offered to her.

“What should we be expecting?” asked Percy, as we followed them into a large banquet room. I could recognize a few of the other parents, between Malcolm’s swim meets, Lucas’ dance team, and Charles’ baseball games, Percy and I were starting to become familiar with more than just our immediate friends children.

We found a table that could seat all of us, and once we sat down Calypso leaned forward and explained what the night would entail. “Well, first things first, the hospitality class is going to serve dinner and while that’s going on, the kids are going to give their presentations. After dinner, and once everyone is done speaking, they give out a few scholarships, then they’ll give a tour of the building. After that we’re invited back down here for dessert and such.”

“It’s only a few hours,” said Leo as a tall man in black jacket and matching hat walked up to a small stage.

“Welcome parents, family, and friends to our annual tech center awards and banquet. As all of you know, you were invited by one or more of our students to enjoy dinner on us and to see our beautiful campus. We’re going to start tonight with our salad course, then from there we’ll start our student presentations while enjoying our main course. We do ask that you save all applause until the very end of our student presentations,” he said, and then as if they were waiting for this cue, doors opened behind him and students in black button ups and black dress pants walked forward holding trays of salads.

I spotted Lucas easily, and watched as he went to sit in a line of chairs by the far wall. He stood in line behind a few girls and boys that I didn’t know, other than Zoe and Diana. I was so focused on Lucas, that I didn’t even notice the salad that was placed in front of me, or who had placed it there. When I looked back up at where Lucas was, I saw that standing beside him was Bianca, in the same kind of jacket as the man who spoke, with her hair tied back in tight bun. She looked almost unrecognizable, she was wearing clothes that actually fit on her, and none of the dark makeup that she was fond of.

The presentations started quickly, with only the interruption of the main course (balsamic roasted chicken, squash, and sautéed green beans and cherry tomatoes). Diana and Zoe represented the two different kinds of engineering classes, and gave their presentation together. I already knew Lucas’ speech, having been his practice audience during a subway ride to Empire State building last weekend.

But it was Bianca that I was so confused about, she never once told Percy or me about any vocational classes.

“Hi everyone! I just want to say thank you for coming tonight, we’ve been preparing for tonight the last few days and we hope that you’ve enjoyed your dinner,” said Bianca, as her part of the slide show started behind her, Hospitality 101.

“So to those of you who don’t know me, I’m Bianca Jackson, and until last summer, I lived with my grandparents Sally and Paul Blofis on the Upper East Side,” as she said this, the slide behind her changed to a picture of Bianca, Sally, and Paul taken when she was much younger, at least eight or nine. “My Grandad Paul as many of you know is a teacher at Goode High School, and my Nana Sally is a world renowned author,” she paused, smiling at the audience, “but before that, my Nana use to work at the candy store Sweet on America in Grand Central Station.

“My Nana was the first person I knew who worked in hospitality. She told me that she always went to work with a smile on her face, because even if she wasn’t happy to be there, it was her job to make the store a warm and friendly environment. After she left the store to write her books, she brought home many of the values that hospitality workers know, which are friendliness, warmth, and open arms to anyone who walks through her front door,” explained Bianca, her slide changed to the definition of hospitality.

“While I don’t live with my grandparents anymore, their doors are still open to me and my brothers, and anyone who needs a place to stay or one of her famous blue chocolate chip cookies,” the audience laughed, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling, even if I wanted to. “My Nana taught me everything I know about hospitality, she even taught me how to cook. But I don’t want to make this about me, in the world of hospitality, there are many different jobs, from the person who works at the front desk of a hotel to a chef who cooks your meals at a restaurant, from the housekeeper who cleans up your room, to the dishwasher who makes sure you have a clean plate to eat off of. The field of hospitality and its many hard working and loyal employees is all around us,” with this she gestured with her hands.

“Thank you all for attending tonight,” she said, tucking a loose curl behind her ear, “I hope you all enjoy your night.”

She stepped down, as a tall boy took her place for his presentation. I watched as she got back into line, right behind Lucas who pulled her into a hug.

I couldn’t concentrate on the rest of the presentations, as I was trying to think of when Bianca ever mentioned a hospitality or tech class to either Percy or me.

“Did you know about this?” I whispered to him as one of the teachers took a spot on the stage.

“Yeah, I did Lucas and Bianca’s paperwork, remember?”

I faltered, that was right, I handled Charles and Malcolm’s school paperwork, as I knew it would be difficult with Charles being a senior and Malcolm a freshman. I looked up though, as I heard Bianca’s name being called.

“Bianca Jackson is one of my most hardworking and lovable students, she figures out a way to volunteer after school three days a week, participate with our competition team three days a week, work a part time job with the Rodriguez’s Family Catering Company, and spend time with her family, friends, and boyfriend,” said the teacher, it was the same one from before, in the black jacket and hat. “She had proved time and time again that the hospitality industry is a perfect fit for her. It is because of this, she is being awarded a scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America for her full tuition for four years starting the fall after she graduates.”

I felt as if the breath had been knocked out of me, as Lucas and Zoe pushed and pulled her up to the stage. She was crying as her teacher pulled her into a hug, and then handed her a piece of paper awarding her the scholarship. I felt Percy squeeze my hand beside me while everyone else at our table cheered, and the rest of the room applauded.

“She got a full ride,” I whispered as Percy kissed my cheek, “a full ride scholarship.”

“She found out two weeks ago,” said Nick, leaning forward across the table, “that’s why she invited you to come.”

“She never told us about this,” I told him, and he looked confused.

“She told me that she did,” he said, concern in his voice.

Percy sighed from beside me, “she told me, and we decided that we wanted it to be a surprise for you. You push her so hard, and all she wants is for you to be proud of her Annabeth.”

“I am though, she’s always made me proud,” I told them, as the teachers began taking tables out of the room on tours.

I looked around, trying to spot Bianca, but neither she nor Lucas could be found.

Rachel appeared before us a few moments later, asking us if we wanted to be shown around the building. Before I could ask her where I could find Bianca though, Leo answered yes and we went on our way. There were four floors of different vocational trades being taught, everything from automotive engineering to nursing to hospitality. She took us to her classroom first, explaining that a lot of the art programs got moved to this building for space purposes. Lucas was talking a graphic design and Photoshop class, and I saw some of the same pictures he had at home up on the walls of Rachel’s classroom.

From there we were shown a garage, a room that could’ve been taken out of a hospital, and a few different computer labs.

“And last but not least, my personal favorite classroom in the building, the hospitality kitchen,” said Rachel opening a pair of double doors. We walked into a large open space, filled with counters, and sinks, and a real oven and stove. I was surprised that they would let children use equipment like this, it had to be dangerous, and costly.

“Antonio, I told you to put whip cream on the side, not on top,” I heard Bianca ordered, it was just like at home, when Malcolm helped her make dinner. “Look, it’s already melting off the top of the cake.”

“You’re not Chef Crissman, Bianca,” said the boy, Antonio, in accusation. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

“You know that presentation is just as important as taste,” said Bianca, I watched as she grabbed the pastry bag from the other boy and put whip cream on a plate.

“What’s for dessert tonight?” asked Leo, walking right up to the counter that Bianca was working at.

She looked up at him and smiled, “it’s strawberry cake with lavender whip cream.”

“This isn’t the first place strawberry cake from last year is it?” he asked, picking up a plate and examining it.

“Sure is, I dug it out of retirement just for tonight,” she said, he picked up the piece and began eating it with his fingers.

“I can’t believe something this good came out of a bad translation,” he said, as he walked back over to us, cake still in hand.

I couldn’t help but marvel how at home she looked in this kitchen. A real kitchen, not the one we had at home. I could already see her the head of a kitchen line, barking out orders with a staff to do as she said.

Before I could find the courage to say something, Rachel was pushing us out the doors and back into the dining hall. It was beginning to fill back up with students, their families, and their teachers.

This was the world that Bianca had chosen for herself, she saw herself taking care of others, like she had been doing all year. Ever since the six of us had moved in together, Bianca had made sure we all ate at least one meal together five days a week. She pushed and prodded us into spending time with each other, she talked Percy into making all of us share our days together. I was beyond proud of her, she was the glue to our family, the homemaker.

**~BSJ~**

I leaned back into Percy’s arm as the subway headed towards Brooklyn. Charles and Zoe had their heads together, while Malcolm and Nico talked excitedly together, and Diana, Bianca, and Lucas talked about their presentations. Leo and Calypso sat on Percy’s other side, talking with him about the night.

When the subway came to our stop, our group got off and headed home; Percy wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked and I watched as Nico, Malcolm, and Lucas raced each other to our front door. Charles kept walking pass our house, walking Zoe down the street to her home. I watched as Bianca climbed the steps to our house, she was still wearing her chef’s jacket and black leggings, with her hair still pulled back.

Charles walked in the door a few minutes later, smiling and slightly red faced. He walked upstairs and I went into the kitchen, where Bianca was pulling out a pot and pan.

“You must be exhausted,” I said, and she jumped, turning around to look at me. I moved forward and took the pan from her, “sit down and let me make you something.”

“I got it, Lucas is hungry too,” she said, I rolled my eyes and gently pushed her towards the kitchen table.

“Let me make you something,” I told her, and she sat down at the table. I turned around and looked at what she got out, there was some roasted chicken she had made on Sunday, and leftover veggies from last night. I put water on to boil and began shredding the chicken with my hands as Lucas stumbled into the kitchen, freshly showered and in his pajamas.

“I can’t believe it went so well tonight,” I heard Lucas say to Bianca, “too bad we didn’t get to eat any of that food.”

“I saw you eating cake Lucas,” said Bianca in a teasing voice.

“Yeah well, it looked amazing. You think you could make it for my birthday next year?”

“If I had known you liked strawberries I would’ve made it this year,” she said quietly.

I put pasta in the boiling water, and looked over my shoulder. Bianca looked exhausted, almost falling out of her seat, she must have experienced every emotion possible tonight. Lucas on the other hand was bouncing slightly in his seat, but he looked sad. It was off hand comments about not knowing something about each other that made all four of them tick, it was the constant reminder that they have been raised apart from each other and still didn’t know each other like siblings.

Once the pasta had started to boil, I heated up some oil in the big pan Bianca had pulled out. I put the chicken and veggies in there, letting them heat up and get crispy. Once the pasta was done, I pulled it out with the small mesh strainer like I had seen Bianca do many times and put it in my pan with the veggies and chicken. A minute later, I turned off the heat and grabbed two bowls for them.

As soon as I set the bowls down in front of them, Lucas attacked his food. I turned back to the stove and began to clean up the mess there. Once that was finished, I watched Lucas drop his bowl in the sink and leave the room.

I sat down across the table from Bianca, she ate so slowly, it was often that she and I were the last two at the table together, while all the boys had left.

“Bianca,” I said, and she looked up at me, tears in her eyes. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m just really tired,” she said as a stray tear fell down her face, another followed quickly behind.

“You don’t need to cry, Bianca,” I told her, and she wiped at her face.

“I’m sorry about tonight,” she said, and it looked like she was trying to make herself smaller in her seat.

“What’s there to be sorry about?” I asked her, reaching across the table to put my hand over hers.

“I never told you about it,” she said, looking down at her lap and pulling her hands away. “I asked dad not to tell you about it, because I thought you would think it was dumb. I’m not smart like Charles, and I’m not artistic like Lucas, and I don’t have the same potential as Malcolm.”

She looked up at me suddenly, and I was lost in the blazing look of her eyes. The sea green eyes, with little flecks of gray, that when angry or sad made her eyes look like a storm, the two gold lines in her right eye looked like a lightning strike. “I’m just really good at cooking, that’s all I want to do, and I was afraid that you would think it was silly or stupid.”

I wanted to pull her into my arms, but I could tell she wasn’t finished.

“Now that’s stupid,” said Percy, from the entrance of the kitchen, he was leaning against the wall, with one of his big dopey smiles on his face. “Do you have any idea of how proud we are of you after tonight? You kicked ass tonight Bianca, and you did something that Charles couldn’t do.”

I smiled at him, as he walked into the kitchen and pulled out the chair beside her.

“What’s that?” she asked, looking at both him, then me.

“You got a full ride scholarship Bianca, to one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the country. Your mom and I are so proud of you that it’s ridiculous,” he said, pulling her against him.

“Really?” she asked, looking right at me.

“Yes, of course,” I told her, knowing already that I would need to do some research on the Culinary Institute of America. “But don’t let this think that you can slack off next year.”

“Of course not,” said Bianca, sitting up a little straighter, or as straight as she could with Percy’s arm around her. “Nick got accepted to NYU for business. If everything goes well, we want to open our own café in Manhattan. We’ve been talking about it for months, and even started getting some estimates for equipment and rent put together. He’s going to be the financial side of the business and I’m going to be the culinary side.”

I smiled at her and then got up and walked around the table to hug her. I felt Percy wrap his arms around me, squishing the three of us close together.

When I pulled away, I ran a hand over Bianca’s hair, and kissed her forehead.

“I love you, and I don’t want you to ever feel afraid to tell me anything,” I told her, sitting down in the seat next to hers.

“Okay,” she said, and then smiled at me, “I love you too mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a little personal to me, I fell in love with cooking in my own high school hospitality class, though I never got a scholarship for it lol! Please let me know what you thought!


	3. The Entrepreneur (Lucas)

**Part Three:**

_The Entrepreneur_

_Find out what you like doing best, and get someone to pay you for doing it._

_Katharine Whitehorn_

~ Frederick

I hated coming to this school, it was overrun with kids in blue and tan uniforms who didn’t care that their parents were paying more than my annual salary to go here. If it hadn’t been for Jason, neither of my grandsons would be going here, but I constantly wondered if they would be better at the public school that was within walking distance of our house, the one my twin boys went too. It was Jason’s fault I was here anyways.

Career day, _ugh_.

I never had to do this for Bobby and Matt, and they turned out fine. Well Matt turned out fine, he had a little girl and a bioengineering degree. Bobby still lived with us, but he was working on his PhD in English Classics, he was rarely home.

But here I was, sitting in the front of the auditorium waiting for the next speaker to start. Lucas and Charles were sitting behind me somewhere, probably not even paying attention.

Charles who was just like Annabeth, knew exactly what he wanted to be, and that was her. He wanted to go to MIT, he wanted to become an architect, and he wanted to live in New York. Just like Annabeth had.

Lucas though, knew what he wanted to be, but couldn’t decide on the exact focus. He wanted to become an artist, he spent most of his time drawing, instead of paying attention in class. It was a constant battle to get him to do his homework and not doodle. Everything was too hard for him he always claimed, reading and writing and math, when in truth, it was paying attention.

Lucas was the trouble child between the two, and it made me worry about his future. A starving artist wasn’t what I saw for my youngest grandson, but at this rate, with his grades that was his future.

He was just too much like Percy for me to get my head around.

I knew that if I could get him to focus on his school work, I could get him into history. From there he could become a museum curator with a focus on classical works of art.

One day, he would make me proud, with his name know to the masses.

**~LFJ – Three Years Later~**

~ Percy

I sighed and rolled onto my side, then careful not to wake up Annabeth, I climbed out of bed. I hated this, I thought that with Charles and Bianca out of the house now, we would have less night visitors.

I padded out of my room, just in time to see Lucas coming up the stairs, he didn’t even notice me as he walked towards his and Malcolm’s shared room. I cleared my throat before he could open his door, and then flicked on the hall light. He had black paint in his hair, and the bag over his shoulder clinked with the sound of metal bottles.

I knew I was going to regret the spray paint.

“Hey dad,” he said quietly, I crossed my arms. “I was just going to bed.”

“You went to bed at ten, it’s three in the morning Lucas,” I told him, sounding annoyed. Charles didn’t give us this trouble, the worst thing to his name was sneaking Zoe in every night. Bianca was a different matter, but I knew if she was gone, that I could always find her at either the Valdez’s or at Nick’s dorm room.

Lucas was his own set of boundaries, between his bad grades, constantly sneaking out of the house, and his ignorant disregard for the rules, he was just like me at his age. I never thought that it would be this annoying, especially because I didn’t want to put my mom and Paul in this situation.

I never thought that I would be disappointed in my son, in any of my children, but Lucas made it easy. He was barely holding his head out of high water, he got high test scores that made Annabeth take the back burner on most issues.

I just wanted him to do well like Bianca and Charles were.

“I went out for run, I told mom,” he lied, well I was sure that he was lying. Lucas probably went for a run, but that couldn’t have been the main reason why he left.

Lucas was our ADHD child, he was always looking for an outlet. He ran for the track and field team, he was on the dance team, and he practiced with his sword and a hunting knife more than the rest of his siblings. Then there was his constant shifting of art projects, his side of Malcolm and his room was full of different canvases and projects ready and waiting to be finished.

I was still annoyed with Rachel for letting him TA in her classes, and work at her gallery in lower Manhattan for the last three years. She paid him two dollars over minimum wage and let him bring home extra supplies.

“Lucas, I don’t want to fight, go to bed and don’t think that you’re off the hook,” I told him, he sighed and opened his bedroom door as I turned off the hallway light.

Annabeth rolled over onto her side as I climbed back into bed. “Was that Lucas again?” she murmured against my neck.

I brushed a stray curl out of her face, “yeah, he just got in.”

“That kid is trouble sometimes.”

She wasn’t wrong; when I turned on the news while driving to work the next morning, the first story of the day was about the lightning bolt spray painted on the Supreme Justice Court House in Manhattan.

**~LFJ – Six Months Later~**

When we had moved back to New York after Alaska with four teenagers, Annabeth and I knew that we would have a lot of problems. The first was the obvious, we didn’t know each other, the kids only knew one of their siblings, and they didn’t know me and Annabeth at all. We didn’t know anything about the four of them, especially Lucas and Malcolm. They had been eighteen months and three months old when the Gods booted us out of their lives.

Still, nothing would ever make me ready for this.

Over the last few months, Lucas had gotten worse. He snuck out more, started skipping class, and even worse, Violet Davis.

Violet Davis, was a daughter of Ricardo Davis, the man famous for attacking models at photoshoots for his advertising firm. She was also a daughter of Aphrodite, not that this was bad, but she used her charmspeak as a get out of jail pass.

I had no idea how they were doing it, but after every night that Lucas came home at a crazy hour, the next morning there would be a new tag reported on the news. They were calling the vandal the Olympian, as each and every tag could be brought back to a different Olympian god.

The first had been Zeus’ lightning bolt on the Supreme Justice Court House. Then the USS New York had a trident, the city morgue got Cerberus, a whole fleet of UPS trucks got winged sandals, then Wall Street Bull got a crud boars head while the young girl who stood before him got a beautiful stag at her feet. Annabeth didn’t want to believe it was Lucas, but she wasn’t waken up at night by his coming and going.

The final straw was the owl that showed up on every public library in Manhattan, after that Annabeth couldn’t help but believe it was him.

Lucas put his nose down after that, and for almost a whole month there was no news of the Olympian tagger.

That was until a small but famous machine garage in Staten Island got a hammer for Hephaestus, then the entrance of the botanical garden’s got cornucopia and a wreath of flowers for Demeter and Persephone. From there doves showed up in every wedding chapel in Queens, every hospital in Brooklyn got its own sun, and every whole food store in the Bronx got a rainbow.

Police began trying to anticipate where he would strike next.

Lucas never let on that it was him, but after he came home covered in pink and red paint, I gave up. He would get caught soon enough, and if he wanted to take Violet down with him, then oh well.

“I got accepted to Cooper Union, SVA, and Columbia,” said Lucas, he pulled out the three large envelopes that I had seen sitting on his desk the last few weeks. Early admissions wasn’t something that we were new to around here, Hades, Bianca got a full ride scholarship at the end of her junior year.

“You didn’t tell us that you applied anywhere,” said Annabeth as she picked up the first envelope. Malcolm looked away from the envelopes, he still had another year before he had to worry about college.

“You never asked,” he said, leaning back in his seat.

Annabeth looked annoyed at this accusation, she had been very worried that Lucas didn’t care about college. The truth was, I had been too.

“Where do you want to go?” I asked him, to hopefully lift some of the tension.

“I think Columbia, but SVA looks pretty cool too,” he said, shifting in his seat nervously, “I submitted part of my portfolio, and Colombia is going to give me a scholarship for my tuition. Bianca and Nick told me I could stay with them, but I talked to Athena and she’ll give me money for an apartment as long as I’m in school.”

I was shocked to say the least, Lucas was our problem child, but he was also our most responsible and open with us. This nervousness was probably more because of his ADHD than from real unease.

“You toured Columbia last year,” said Annabeth pulling that envelope towards her and shifting through the contents. “If you want to go there, we’ll support you.”

Lucas smiled, and Malcolm frown at his plate.

“Do you really have to leave?” he asked Lucas.

Lucas frowned, then wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll visit.”

Two years ago, the very idea of the two of them missing one another was almost crazy. Charles and Lucas had the hardest time with the move, they had grown up in San Francisco with Annabeth’s father Frederick and his wife Sue. Charles at least had been granted his own room, his own space, which he took advantage of by having his girlfriend Zoe climb in his window and spend the night with him almost every night. Bianca got her own room too, which was a given as our only daughter.

But Lucas and Malcolm were thrown in a room together, as Annabeth changed the kid’s old playroom into a home office so she could work from home. Lucas was used to sharing a much smaller room with Charles, who was quiet and didn’t take up much space. Malcolm had never had to share a room, he didn’t even have an old assigned room the last time we had all lived in this house, and he had still been young enough that we kept his crib in our bedroom. Putting the two of them in Lucas’ room caused more problems than it was worth. Lucas had more space than he was use too, while Malcolm lost half of the space he was used to having for himself. In the first week we spent together moving in and settling before heading back to camp, the two of them fought like cats and dogs. The fighting carried on for the first four months after camp, until they were too worried about Bianca to care about the other being in their space.

We had told Lucas that if he wanted to move into Charles’ room while he was at school that he could, but he refused. Now the two of them complained about how hard it was to fall asleep at camp, which I knew had to be because the other wasn’t there.

While I was happy to see the two of them get along, I was worried about something else, or more so, someone.

“What about Violet?” I asked Lucas, and he frowned, pulling away from Malcolm and into himself.

“She’s going to NYU for advertising and marketing,” he said, now he was really nervous, he bit his lip like Bianca and Annabeth did when nervous.

I nodded and looked at Annabeth, but she was engrossed in the pamphlets and letters that Columbia had sent Lucas.

Well, maybe Violet wouldn’t last long.

**~LFJ – Three Months Later~**

Eleanor Roosevelt was a daughter of Athena, but it’s a peacock that appears by her statue in Riverside Park, two months after the last tagging. It’s not even a full week later when a small wine shop in Staten Island is vandalize with a spray paint bunch of grapes for Dionysus. Then two weeks later the Saint Augustine Catholic Church gets a pair of crossed torches on its front lawn for Hecate.

Last week, every elementary and preschool in Manhattan got a pair of wings for Hebe.

Lucas just turned eighteen at the beginning of the month, and I’m hoping that the schools were his last. It would be a good number to end on, and graduation is in a few days.

I wished that I had luck, but that would be asking too much.

The call came at two in the morning two days before Lucas was set to graduate.

When Annabeth and I got to the police station, they told us that Lucas and Violet were found leaving Yankee Stadium by two security guards. That they probably would’ve gotten away with it if they hadn’t of run.

I knew that Lucas could out run everyone he met, but he would slow down for only one person, Violet.

Annabeth was furious, but I couldn’t help but be disappointed. I had the chance to tell him not to go tonight, I caught him red handed with his backpack full of spray paint.

I was a bad father, but not as bad as Ricardo Davis, who never showed up. Instead, as we walked into the back of the precinct where they kept the holding cells, I saw Hermes and Apollo dressed in suits, talking to Violet and Lucas.

I really didn’t want to know why they were here, but I also didn’t want to ask either.

Hermes turned to us as we walked up to the cell, “don’t worry, everything is taken care of, on us this time.”

He walked away with Apollo following after him, both of them laughing as they walked out of the precinct. I turned to Lucas and Violet, who were sitting on the bench by the door. They looked so guilty, which they were, but I could feel my anger leaving me.

“Lucas, I don’t know what to say,” said Annabeth, as the police officer unlocked the sliding metal door for him and Violet. “We’re just beyond disappointed.”

Lucas didn’t say a thing on the car ride back home, he just sat quietly in the back seat, holding Violet’s hand. Neither of them said anything as we walk into the house at six in morning, they just keep their heads down as Annabeth and I lead them into the kitchen.

“Why?” I asked them, sitting down a few minutes later with a fresh cup of coffee in my hand, “why did you start this?”

Lucas looked up and I saw that his eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot, there were tear stains on his cheeks. “I wanted something impressive for my portfolio. I wanted to prove to you that I wasn’t some mess up, that I didn’t care about camp or the Gods… like he did.”

Annabeth sighed, and leaned against the back of my chair, her hand on my shoulder. “I knew that I shouldn’t have told you about Luke.”

Violet looked up at Annabeth, confused. “Luke who?”

“Luke Castellan, he was a son of Hermes who save Olympus during the Titan war,” I explained to her, she nodded and looked back down at her lap.

I waited, wanting one of them to say something, to explain how this started, what they were going to do to stop this.

“Why were Apollo and Hermes there?” asked Annabeth, she sounded so tired, and I wanted nothing more than to climb into bed.

“They were bailing us out,” said Lucas, running a hand through his hair, “they said it was a thank you, for bringing more attention to them, more followers. I don’t know why, but they said that all charges were dropped and that they wouldn’t be able to tie any of the other paintings to us. I don’t know what they did to alter the police officers memory, but we won’t have to worry about getting arrested for this.”

“I just don’t get it,” I told him, concentrating on my cup to keep my thoughts together. “You did all of this, just for your portfolio? Couldn’t you have just used your other drawings?”

“It was just as much a political statement as a praise for the Olympian Gods,” said Violet, rubbing her hands together on the table, “I used the _Charging Bull_ Ares and the _Fearless Girl_ Artemis in my college essays to symbolize the male and female dominances in different fields. It’s even opened up discussion at camp about how each of the gods are symbolize in the modern world.”

“That’s nice and all,” I told her, as Annabeth squeezed my shoulder, “but you’ve been lying to us for months Lucas, you told me you weren’t doing this. You also promised me that you weren’t going to cause trouble this year.”

“I graduate in two days,” he said, raising his voice and standing up, “after that you won’t have to worry about me ever again if you don’t want to!”

He walked out of the kitchen at these last words, and I sighed into my coffee.

“I know I don’t have any room to talk,” said Violet quietly, “but he just wanted to make both of you proud. He doesn’t think that anyone takes him or his art seriously, and I know that it’s a lie, because I’ve seen the two of you at the gallery before. I’ve also seen you come to the dance competitions and track meets, I know you care about him.”

She looked up at us, and I saw tears slipping down her cheeks, “your great parents to him, unlike my dad. You could’ve been like him and just left me in that cell, which I appreciate. I would just give him a little time to come around, we really thought that we would never get caught.”

She stood up and walked out of the kitchen, upstairs after Lucas. Annabeth sat down beside me, as Malcolm walked into the kitchen, looking tired and grumpy.

“Why does he get to have his girlfriend over? And where did you go last night?” he asked, putting bread into the toaster.

“We’ll explain later,” said Annabeth, rubbing her eyes, “do you want a ride to school today?”

“Nah, I’ll take the subway with Olivia and Nico.”

**~LFJ – Six Months Later~**

The day after graduation, Lucas and Violet left for camp. They got Bianca to give them a ride out there, after that, we only saw him when he came home to pack up his things and moved into his apartment not far from the Columbia campus. It was quiet, without his music and coming and goings, without Lucas home, our house felt almost too big. It was a home meant for six, and now at three, it felt off.

Malcolm, now a high school junior, with no siblings at home or at school, spent more time with his friends than anyone else. He often went to the Valdez’s house, it was his, Olivia’s, and Nico’s meeting spot. They spent their time doing homework and avoiding the gods, getting themselves ready for exams that could change their lives.

I sighed, pulling myself away from the recipe that Bianca had sent me and went to the door. I opened it, and was shocked to see Lucas on the other side. Even though Annabeth and I had tried to make peace, Lucas pushed us away, so sure that we were angry at him still. He refused any invitation for dinner or even to visit, even with his siblings around.

“Oh, hey dad,” he said, dropping his gaze to the ground.

He looked thinner than before, his face and frame gaunt, and his hair longer with a mix of blue paint and charcoal dust in it. He was wearing a clay stained CHB t-shirt and flannel that I knew once belonged to Charles. His jeans were riddled with holes, paint stains, and pen doodles. He had a messenger bag thrown over his shoulder, it was covered in words and marker doodles, despite that it looked new, or at least not as worn as the rest of him.

He looked both older and younger at the same time, like he was a fourteen year old in an eighteen year old body. This wasn’t really far off from how he normally acted, but there was something entirely off about him. Maybe it was the obviously nervous way he held himself, or maybe it was the fact that he was back home, so unexpectedly to himself.

“Come in,” I said, moving aside so he could do so. “Malcolm and your mom are out right now, but I’m making dinner if you would like to stay.”

He hesitated, then nodded, “um, yeah…sure.”

I headed back to the kitchen, and waited, within moments he was walking up the stairs. I heard a few doors open, then silence, as his weight shifted and settled in…in Annabeth’s office.

I followed after him and found him just where I knew he would be. He had the picture of Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke when they were younger, when they hadn’t made it to camp yet.

“Why did you name me after him? Why did you give me this sentence?” he asked, showing me the picture.

“His name doesn’t make you who you are Lucas,” I told him, “just like it doesn’t make Charles like Beckendorf or Bianca a di Angelo, or even Malcolm like your Uncle Malcolm. We named you Lucas because before Luke betrayed the Gods, he was kind, and nice, and he kept your mother alive and safe. We thought that you were going to be our last child, so we wanted to name you after someone that would take care of his siblings, even if they were older than him.”

I took a step forward and reached behind him for the photo album Annabeth and I had made years ago, the catalog of all of the loved ones we lost during the wars. I opened it to a random page, there was a picture of Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard a few days before they died.

“This is who Charles was named after,” I pointed to Beckendorf, and Lucas looked down at him, “he was a son of Hephaestus, like Leo. He was brave, and smart, and he saved my life by sacrificing his own. He died shortly after his eighteenth birthday, and we named Charles after him, because he was a good friend and a good person. We wanted Charles to have those qualities, which was the only reason why we named him that, nothing more or less.”

I flipped towards the front of the book, to a picture of Bianca and Nico di Angelo. “This is Bianca di Angelo, who we named your sister after. She was never claimed at camp, instead she became one of Artemis’ hunters, like Thalia. She was incredibly kind, and funny, and full of potential, her brother Nico was smart, and funny, and good to a fault, even when he didn’t want to be. We named your sister after her hoping that she would have the same potential that Bianca did, and she does have that and more.”

I flipped to the back of the book, the last picture we had put in there before Alaska. Annabeth and her brother Malcolm on our wedding day, Annabeth in her wedding sundress and Malcolm in his button down and khakis, they stood arm in arm smiling at the camera. Underneath that picture was Malcolm holding Lucas, with Bianca sitting on his right knee and Charles’ at his left shoulder. “This is your Uncle Malcolm, the first camper your mother was ever put in charge of. Malcolm was her closest confidant while at camp, closer than even me. He was smart, and honest, and kind to everyone he met, just like your brother. He was killed in a monster attack on his way to visit us, he was just eighteen when he died and less than two weeks away from starting college.”

I closed the book, every picture, every person had a caption of how old they were and the date of their death, their names were forever marked down in this album. I handed Lucas the photo album, “I want you to have this, to remember that your name isn’t what makes you, it’s you who makes your name.”

Lucas took the book and held it close to himself, then in a move that surprised me, he hugged me. I felt the album hit my foot, but I was in too much shock to feel the pain. Slowly I wrapped my arms around him, and suddenly he was crying in my arms.

“Violet’s pregnant and I don’t know what to do.”

I wrapped my arms tight around him, I was ready for him to say anything, anything except for this.

“I came here hoping I could get some things for the baby, but I don’t know what to do or how to go about this. I thought mom would have some books, but s-“

“Don’t worry, we’ll help you,” I cut him off from his rambling. “Anything you need, we’re here for you Lucas.”

He pulled away, and I looked into his gray eyes. He was the only one of our children to have Annabeth’s eyes, the exact same shade and shape. It was the easiest way to tell if he was scared or angry.

“I’m just so scared that we’ll fail, that the baby will be just like me,” he said, bending down to retrieve the photo album.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” I told him, leading him out of the office and back downstairs. “Your mother and I love you just the way you are, even if we do fight. Lucas we’re human, we’re allowed to get angry, and we’re allowed to fight too, but we’re also allowed to make up and apologize to one another.

“I’m sorry about last year, it’s just that you made us worry so much that I couldn’t let go of the thought of not knowing who you were. I don’t want to be my father, I don’t want to barely know you and assume who you are.”

As I finished speaking, Annabeth and Malcolm walked in the front door, laughing about something that I was sure would go over my head. Lucas seemed to shrink in their presence, but that didn’t stop either one of them from hugging him. Malcolm, seemingly oblivious to Lucas’ current emotional state, started to tell him about everything he was missing while in college, from their friends to classes, Malcolm covered it all.

After dinner, I sent him home with a few old and probably outdated baby books that Annabeth had me read while she was pregnant with all four of our children. I also sent him home with plenty of leftovers, and an old baby name book, the one we found Bianca’s name in.

“It’s actually pretty interesting if you like Shakespeare, it has the name of every character from his plays in it, along with the meaning, and their story line. I know you told me once that Violet likes Shakespeare’s plays,” I told him, handing him an old and slightly ragged baby name book, he smiled at me and put it in his messenger bag.

“Thanks dad,” he said, then walked out the front door, I watched him pick up his pace until he was running down the street, it felt like no time had really pass in the last six months.

**~LFJ – Three Months Later~**

“Hello,” I mumbled into my phone, I could feel Annabeth pressed against my side, her nose against my neck. It was too late, or really, it was too early to be awake. I wasn’t sure of the time, nor did I really want to check.

“I know it’s late, but he’s here.”

I was having a hard time telling who it was on the phone, I hadn’t bothered opening my eyes to grab my phone, and I just answered. For all I knew, it was one of my sons, but sometimes, when they were all excited, it was hard to tell who was who. I could be talking to anyone of them, Charles, Malcolm, or-

I sat bolted upright, waking Annabeth as I jumped out of bed.

“Lucas, the baby’s here?” I asked him, and heard his laughter on the other side of the phone.

“Yeah, Paris Hayden Jackson,” he said, I could hear the excitement and happiness in his voice. I began to put on clothes, when I heard Annabeth ask me what was going on.

“Lucas and Violet just had their baby,” I told her, and suddenly our room was in motion. Within minutes, we had the name of the hospital and were on our way to meet our first grandchild.

Charles, Zoe, Bianca, and Nick were already there, they were talking animatedly together, and Malcolm moved around us to join them. The reason why Annabeth and I stood frozen in our tracks, was because they were here, about half of the Olympian council along with a handful of other Gods, were sitting across from the room where my grandson was.

“Why are they here?” I whispered to Annabeth, who I was sure I could hear the gears in her head whirling and trying to figure out what was going on.

Then my father, Poseidon, stepped forward. “Percy, Annabeth, nice that the two of you could make it!”

He pulled us both into a hug, and I had no idea why the enthusiasm, but he smelled like the ocean, which always calmed me. When he pulled away, I saw that he looked younger than I had ever seen him before, younger than I was right now. He could’ve been the same age as Charles, or maybe my children’s older brother, not their grandfather.

“What are you doing here though?” asked Annabeth, she sounded a bit dazed, as if Poseidon had drugged her or something. “I mean all of you, not just you specifically.”

“We’re guarding the room, keeping them safe. The birth of Demigod babies can be quite the beacon to monsters, with enough of us around there won’t be a problem,” explained Poseidon, smiling at us, then over his shoulder at my children who all waved before turning back to one another. Annabeth and I already knew this though, it was one of the main reasons why everyone felt bad that weren’t there when Piper had Stephan. We always made sure to tell our friends, mainly because we wanted them to be there, and because they needed to be there, to protect the family from monsters because it wasn’t safe otherwise.

“But do so many of you need to be here?” I asked him, and his smile faltered.

“Lucas has brought us a lot of prosperity lately, with his stunt last year, we haven’t had this many people praying to us since we were Roman,” said Poseidon, his smile back and wider than ever. “Never mind the portraits.”

“What por-“

“Mom, dad, come see him,” Bianca called over to us, she stood just outside the door, both of her brothers, Zoe, and Nick all gone.

We excused ourselves from Poseidon, and walked over to Bianca, who opened the door. Once we squeezed inside, I saw Lucas sitting in a chair by the bed. He looked so happy, but so tired at the same time, he had a permeant smile stuck on his face. Beside him, sitting upright on a mountain of pillows, was Violet, holding a small bundle in her arms.

Annabeth and I both moved forward, and Lucas took the baby from her, before standing up and passing him to us.

He was gorgeous, his skin tone matched Violet’s even tan, and I could already see his wispy black hair turning blonde to match Lucas’. His eyes were already gray, the same shade and shape as Lucas’. And because I couldn’t help myself, I counted all ten fingers, and all ten toes, just to make sure that he was perfect, just like I did with all four of my own children.

“He’s perfect,” I told him, not wanting to give him back.

“Thank you,” said Violet, but she wasn’t looking at me, or even at her son, but to Lucas. I caught Lucas’ eyes and he smiled just a little wider, I passed Paris, my grandson, to Annabeth and pulled Lucas into a hug.

“I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks dad.”

**~LFJ – Ten Months Later~**

“Wow,” said Annabeth walking over to the full wall of windows that made up the outside wall of the apartment. “This is incredible Lucas, how are you going to be able to afford this?”

“We already bought it,” he said, baby Paris, or Frenchie as he was nicknamed, on his hip. Annabeth turned around, looking surprise, I couldn’t blame her, I was too. How were they able to afford this place, they were both students with a baby and part time jobs.

“How?” I asked him, a five room penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park, in the middle of Manhattan. “This place is ridiculous.”

“I’ll show you,” he said, smiling and walking down the hall. We passed by several empty bedrooms and Frenchie’s nursery. Lucas led us into the last bedroom before the master, I stopped in my tracks, before us were several large canvases, and on each of them was the outline of one of the gods. All of them seem to be in the process of completion, most had the beginning of a sketch on them, while a few had the beginnings of painted outlines. I couldn’t help it, I was impressed; Lucas must have put a lot of time and effort into these.

Then I saw it, in the corner by the far wall, was the first finished canvas. Apollo’s outline stood in the center of the frame, while above him was the sun, a lyre, and a bow and arrows, while below, were his children. Most of them were faces that I hadn’t seen in years, forever immobilized because they passed away, only a few I knew were still alive, like Will Solace’s and Austin Lake’s.

There was another sitting close by, only this one was of Hermes and his children.

“I sold them to the Gods,” said Lucas, as Frenchie made a grab for a pair of paint brushes within his reach. “I started making Apollo’s before French was born, and I just finished it before I dropped out of school last year. Athena was going to make me move out of our old apartment, but I was able to hold her off until we found somewhere else. By then, I had sold six of my paintings to the other gods, I got the idea from your photo album.”

Lucas smiled at us, and shifted so Frenchie was in his arms, he ruffled the little boy’s messy blond hair, just like his father’s. “What’s a better way to commemorate the gods, than through their children?”

“You got all of this?” I asked him, gesturing to the room, the apartment, the paintings, “from a photo album?”

“Yeah, I mean, after French was born, it kind of all clicked together,” he said, lacing his fingers together. “Paris is the most important person in the whole world to me, he’s what ties me down, and it must be the same for them too.”

I moved first, pulling Lucas into a hug, he had become a real entrepreneur, selling his art, the one thing he loved most in the world, to the vainest and most ridiculous beings in the world.

“Good job Lucas,” I said, as I opened my arms for Annabeth to join us, “we’re so proud of you.”


	4. The Performer (Malcolm)

**Part Four:**

_The Performer_

_There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living._

_Nelson Mandela_

~ Annabeth

I sighed, and held my poster board to my side, I was beyond excited to come in and talk about Ancient Greek architecture to Jason’s class. This was going to be the closest I got to career day, I missed out on my only chance when Charles was in preschool, thanks to Aphrodite. Then we got sent to Alaska, successfully missing out on any possible career day presentations.

The door to the classroom opened, and out spilled a group of teenagers, most likely seniors, which included my only daughter, Bianca. She stopped at the sight of me, her best friend, and my oldest son’s girlfriend, Zoe Valdez at her side.

“Hi mom,” she said, smiling at me, I let myself relax, obviously she forgot about our fight earlier.

“Hi Bianca,” I said, then turned to Zoe, “hi Zoe, how are your classes going?”

Bianca frowned, and grabbed Zoe’s arm, hurrying away and shouting over her shoulder, “gotta go, need to get to class.”

I sighed again, hopefully I could get through the rest of the day. I looked up and saw Jason standing in the doorway, his head cocked slightly to the side, with one of his doppy smiles on his face. It was Friday, which meant that he was treating his students to one of his many movie t-shirts, this one featured the Avengers.

“I got your slide show,” said Jason, moving aside for me to come in, he took my poster board from me. “I hyped you up to some of my homeroom kids, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Jason, they’re probably going to be bored, I know Percy was when I practiced last night,” I told him, setting my bag down behind his desk. I was still honored that he thought of me, Percy and I tried to get our hands on as many volunteer opportunities as possible, from everything to dance chaperones to guest speakers. We had also been to a fair amount of field trips, Percy had even taken Lucas’ biology class on a tour of the aquarium he worked at. I knew that this wasn’t much, but I was the architect of Olympus, I had been studying Ancient Greek architecture since I was three, Jason knew that this was my field of expertise.

“Nico and Malcolm sounded quite excited about it, having seen Olympus and all,” said Jason, I smiled at him, at least he was trying.

“Well, that’s better than nothing,” I told him.

The thing was though, I had no idea what Malcolm had in mind for his future. While Charles was now at MIT for architecture; Bianca had her full ride scholarship to the CIA and the beginnings of a business plan; and Lucas wanted to be an illustrator; I didn’t know what Malcolm wanted to be or do.

He was a great swimmer, he could go anywhere on a sports scholarship, but it wasn’t so much the place, it was what he was going to do when he got there. It was dumb, I knew to worry so much about him, but I couldn’t stop myself. I always had a plan, and for Malcolm to not know, it scared me.

“Hey mom, Ja- um Mr. Grace told us you were going to be in class today,” said Malcolm walking into the classroom, trailing behind him was Nico Valdez, who smiled and gave a small wave before heading to his seat.

“Yeah, he said he told you,” I said to him, and he went off to his seat.

He was only a high school freshman, I didn’t have to worry too much yet.

**~MFJ – Three Years Later~**

~ Estelle

I smiled to myself, as I watched my daughter jump onto my parent’s couch. It was hard to believe that she was already six, it felt like yesterday that I had just found out I was pregnant. She was so much like her father, constantly moving, talking, and laughing, just like he had been. Somedays, it felt like he was with us, her presence was loud enough that it felt like she was two people, but that’s how most children of Hermes can be, at least that’s what I’ve been told.

I watched her, almost longingly, as I headed to the front door. I looked through the peek hole, and felt excitement well up in my stomach. I opened the door for my older brother Percy, his wife Annabeth, and their youngest son Malcolm. Percy was one of the few constants in my adult life, well, him and Annabeth. When they returned from Alaska, a few years ago, they helped me figure out this demigod life.

Well, how to raise a demigod that is. I wasn’t a demigod myself, but Percy and Annabeth were, along with their four children. I had been born with the ‘sight’, which meant that I could see through the ‘mist’ which covered up all the weird mythology stuff like the gods and monsters. It was how I met Hermes in the first place, how our daughter Cleo came to be.

Cleo had been about a year old when Percy and Annabeth came home, that same summer, my apartment had been broken into by Hell Hounds. After that, I finally learned how to use the bronze knife that Annabeth had given to me when I was nine. I learned how to defend myself, and my daughter from the monsters that wanted to kill her.

I hugged Percy tightly, despite a seventeen year age difference, he was an amazing and loving older brother. Mom had pictures of us from when I was little bonding like Percy’s own children had, watching movies, playing tea party, there was even us in matching Halloween costumes. A lot of them also included Annabeth, who was just as much my sister, as Percy was my brother.

I turned to Annabeth, and she kissed my forehead, while Percy was a hugger, Annabeth preferred kisses to the cheek or forehead. Physical contact just wasn’t her thing, even with her own children, she rarely hugged them, and it was normally in high emotional situations that involved her making the first move.

Malcolm scooped me up into his arms and spun us around, laughing as he did so. Malcolm and his older sister Bianca had lived with my parents from the time he was three months old to the age of twelve. And even though I had moved out years before he did, it always felt weird those first few months after the move when I would visit and he wouldn’t be here, or on his way back. It took me a long time to get use to the fact that he would be a visitor now, and not be calling this place home.

Cleo came down the hall, curious about what was taking me so long to return to her.

“Uncle Percy!” she yelled, then jumped into his waiting arms, “Auntie Annabeth!”

I smiled as Percy showered her face with kisses and raspberries, making Cleo shriek with laughter. Malcolm grabbed her from him, and began tickling her as he ran into the living room with her in his arms. Her laughter grew even louder as Percy turned to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

“Wh-“

My potential question was interrupted as the door opened, Charles, Zoe, Bianca, Nick, Lucas, Violet, and baby Paris all crowded into the small hallway, pushing the rest of us into the living room. They emerged from the hallway a moment later, passing around hugs and the baby as they did so.

Paris was the perfect replica of his parents, with Violet’s curls, tan skin, ears, cheek bones, and smile; and Lucas’ blonde hair, grey eyes, nose, freckles, and paint stained clothes. At seven months old, he was already the most beautiful baby I knew, even more so than Cleo was, and she was my everything.

I turned and looked for my daughter, who had taken an intense liking to Charles once he and Zoe had moved back to New York from Boston, but she was still in Malcolm’s arms. Malcolm was both the youngest and most nurturing of his siblings, he was patient, fun, and the most understanding of tragedies. Maybe this was because he didn’t get to know his parents until he was twelve, almost thirteen, maybe it was because this was his nature.

Either way, I loved him more than just as my nephew, he was like a little brother to me. He was the one I was closest to, and who I wouldn’t mind leaving my daughter’s well-being to.

**~MFJ – Two Months Later~**

I sat down at the table in the middle of my old high school auditorium, I had taken up the job as theatre director to get some extra money during the school year. Surprisingly, it didn’t take away from my other job as a cast member of _Les Miserables._ I had been with the production for almost three years now, as I needed something stable after I had Cleo. I had enough savings to keep us afloat for the first year of her life, with many visits to my parent’s home for meals and leftovers. I had tried out a few different singer jobs after that, but I ended up back in theatre, back to Broadway.

Dad sat down next to me, he was the director the last few years, stepping down to assistant this year so he could spend more time with mom. It was all very cute and adorable, but he could retire at this point with all the money mom had made off of her books.

On my other side, sat the student director, Ariel Solace. She was a senior this year, and had decided that she wanted to go to film school, she had sold me on herself by explaining how for the last three years she had been helping dad with his directing.

She also made good snacks, and her parents Rachel and Will were often in the Sunday audience of _Les Mis_.

“Alright,” I said, looking down at the sign up list, we needed to cast a whole musical today, at least forty students. “We have about seventy names here, we need two leads, fifteen for the main cast, and about twenty-five for everyone else. This doesn’t include understudies or the crew.”

“Let’s get started then,” said dad, leaning forward to look down at the large group of teenagers below us. “Hayley Shine.”

At once, a girl with a mane of strawberry blonde hair went to the stage, she had a guitar with her. She asked us if she wanted us to sing a song from the musical, or anything.

“Sing what’s comfortable to you,” I told her, and was blown away almost immediately.

Her was voice was like silk, it was almost nerve wracking how beautiful it was. She could hit every note and more, it was like my brain was about to explode. When she was done, she walked off the stage and back to her seat.

“I think we found Maria,” Ariel whispered to me, as dad called up the next student.

I wrote her name down next to Maria on my character list. The only problem with her playing Maria, was that this was _West Side Story_ , and I wanted to have to Puerto Rican leads, but maybe there was a way we could twist this.

It all depended on who our male lead was.

After about two hours of tryouts, I was getting tired and knew that I still needed to get Cleo from Bianca and Nick’s place. At least they didn’t live too far from my apartment.

The auditorium was mostly empty, except for a handful of students who decided to stay after their tryout, and the last few who needed to go still.

“Carlos Martinez,” dad called out to the small group, he sounded tired himself, probably hungry too.

The younger boy stood up in his seat, probably a freshman, but he looked like he could be my Tony, as long as he could sing. “Um, I just wanted to know if I could build the sets, I didn’t know this was for singing.”

I sighed, and rested my head on the table as Ariel told him that they would be meeting with the shop class tomorrow and that he could come if he wanted.

“How many more do we have?” I asked dad, trying to see his list of names.

“This is the last one,” he said to me, then louder, “Malcolm Jackson.”

I sat up as Malcolm walked onto the stage. This was the thing about Malcolm, he loved musical theatre, and he loved it to the point that he got banned from two different theatres for sneaking in to watch shows. Most of his music on his phone was Broadway, and he had a beautiful singing voice on top of that. I had been pushing him to try out for the school musical for years, and now here he was.

He walked up towards the stage, then paused and turned to Hayley, who had stayed the whole time. She walked up onto the stage with him, and with her accompaniment on guitar, sang one of my favorite Beatles songs.

I wrote his name down next to Tony, knowing that I would read his lines to him a million times, if I could hear him sing just once more.

**~MFJ – Two Months Later~**

Two months since auditions, two months since Henry (no Hermes) decided to come back in our life, two months of practice and voice lessons and trying not to pull my hair out. Henry (no Hermes) hadn’t even been the hardest hoop to jump through, he hadn’t even been the biggest problem in my life, it was this stupid _West Side Story_ musical.

I had been ready to quit this job half a dozen times in the last week alone, but now here we were, opening night. Malcolm and Hayley had become my one constant at least, between the two of them this musical might just run smoothly. They came together, and it was magical, the chemistry they shared on stage had even carried on off stage. They were constantly together, even coming to family dinner together last weekend.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist as I went over the preprogram check list with Ariel. She had thought of almost everything, the rest dad had taken care of. I looked down, and picked up Cleo, she had no school today, and Henry had been sleeping when I left for the school today, so I left him note to get her dressed and fed and to the school by six tonight.

“Hi Sweet Pea,” I said to her, kissing her cheek as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Hi momma, daddy and I spent the day at the history museum with Auntie Annabeth,” she said excitedly, I smiled and looked up to see Henry standing at the stage entrance.

“Really, that sounds like it was a lot of fun,” I told her, nodding my head to Henry, he walked over to us as Ariel ran off to find the stage director.

“This is pretty impressive Elle,” said Henry, before he leaned in and kissed me.

“It’s just a high school production,” I told him, he smiled at me, and took Cleo from me.

“Yeah, well everything you do is impressive,” he said, before walking off to find seats for him and Cleo in the auditorium.

I gathered all of the students together, and gave them the speech that my first director use to give us before every showing. After being in that production for a month I had that speech memorized.

“Okay,” I said, “break a leg everyone!”

I left the stage, and found my seat between dad and Ariel, then I sat at the edge until the curtains closed for the last time.

**~MFJ~**

I should have known that it wasn’t going to end well. Involving your life with the gods, and demigods like I have just meant trouble. After the performance, the students got changed while the audience was invited into the cafeteria from cookies and coffee while waiting for the students. I went to go find Malcolm and Hayley to congratulate them on an amazing performance, as it was what they deserved. Only to find them fighting off a hideous creature.

I didn’t realize I was screaming until Malcolm turned to me and narrowly missed a razor sharp spike impaling his arm. I tried to remember where I put my knife, before remembering that it was at home, in the drawer on my bedside table.

“Estelle run,” yelled Malcolm as he clicked the pen in his hand, at once it grew into a three foot long sword.

I felt myself rooted in place, as Malcolm tried to slash at the monster. Hayley was trapped in one of his hands, she was trying to punch and scratch her way through.

Then she screamed, she screamed so loudly that it felt like my ear drums were going to explode. I covered my ears and saw Malcolm do the same, the monster dropped Hayley making her stop screaming, and Malcolm grabbed her arm, then mine and together the three of us ran out the back stage door and ran towards my car. Henry was already putting Cleo into her car seat, strapping her in as if we were going on a long drive.

I watched as he turned to Hayley and handed her a strange bundle of objects. A solid gold bow and three bronze tipped arrows.

“What am I supposed to-“

“Shoot him Hayley!” yelled Malcolm from her side, as the monster, recovered from Hayley’s screaming, emerged from the stage door.

Hayley lifted the bow and an arrow, then miraculously shot the monster. I had to look away as a blinding light filling he night sky, it was like pure sunlight.

“Come on Hayley,” said Malcolm running around to the other side of the car, “we need to get you to camp.”

“What are you talking about?” Hayley yelled at him, she looked frighten, and I couldn’t blame her, I was too.

“Please,” said Malcolm, and I watched as she hesitated for only a few seconds, then climbed in behind Henry and beside Cleo.

I stepped on the gas, watching the school grow small as we sped out into traffic. Somehow, and I was sure it was because of Henry, every light we went through was green. We made it out to Long Island in record time, and at this rate, I was sure that we would be to camp before we knew it.

“I just don’t get,” said Hayley for about the hundredth time, “why are we going to a summer camp?”

Malcolm sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he was trying to explain everything without using the actually terms demigod or half-blood.

“Hayley,” I said, glancing at her in my rearview mirror, “have you ever seen anything that you just couldn’t explain. Like a person who didn’t _look_ like a person, or an animal that you just _couldn’t_ quite place? Or have you looked at something one second, then the next it was like it wasn’t there?”

“Like my eyes were playing tricks on me,” said Hayley, I smiled, she got it now. “But what does this have to do with that monster?”

“Everything,” I told her, as we drove through another green light. “I was born with clear sight, which means that I can see through the mist that covers up all of those weird things. I could see monsters and gods my whole life, and I was able to keep Bianca and Malcolm safe because of that.”

“Why did you need to be protected?” Hayley asked Malcolm, and I relaxed into my seat slightly, hopefully my job would be done here.

“Because were demigods,” said Malcolm quietly, then, “my parents are the demigod children of Poseidon and Athena. My father, was the first child of Poseidon born in about seventy years, now there’s more, but when he was at camp it was just him. My mother, is one of Athena’s daughters. My siblings and I are considered legacies, but we’re in the same dangers that any other demigod or half-blood is.”

“Why was that monster after me then, I’m not a demigod or half-blood?” said Hayley, she had the bow and her two remaining arrows at her feet.

“You are though, your father Apollo asked me to protect you until you could get to camp,” explained Malcolm, he was still gripping his sword, as if he was about to go back into battle.

“Just before school started, he asked me to watch over you and make sure you didn’t get into any trouble. That’s why I signed up for the school musical, so I could get closer to you. Apollo told me that you would need to get to camp before the winter solstice, but I also knew that you wouldn’t leave school until after the musical. The solstice was yesterday, I should’ve brought you out to camp two days ago, but I wanted to sing with you again.”

“My father is Apollo?” she asked him, “my mother told me his name was Allen, they met at a music festival in Cabo and she never saw him after that.”

“That’s normally what happens,” said Henry, nervously running a hand through his hair. “Most of my brothers never look back, but you’ve been blessed with an amazing gift.”

“Br-brothers?” stuttered Hayley, leaning forward to look at Henry better.

“Yes,” I said, threading my fingers with Henry’s, “this is Hermes, Cleo’s father.”

“I’m so confused right now,” said Hayley, slumping back into her seat. Malcolm sighed, and I watched him put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I’m probably not explaining any of this right, when we get to camp, Chiron will be able to put everything straight,” he said, she nodded.

“Speaking of which,” I said as I saw the sign for Montauk Lake, “where am I supposed to turn up here?”

Before Malcolm could answer, Henry leaned over and whispered the directions to me, leading us off the highway and onto Old Farm road 3.141. From there we turned down a small path that made me worry for my car’s life, but when we came out of clearing that had five or six other cars in it, I felt better. At least mine wasn’t in the worst shape, there was a truck that had to be older than Percy here.

I was ready to brace myself for the cold, but once we got out of the car, it felt like there was only a slight chill to the air. It was cold enough that our shoes crunched the frost covered the ground, but not cold enough to need a heavy jacket. It wasn’t really me who I was worried for as Malcolm led us through the woods, it was him and Hayley. Malcolm had no shoes on, which was pretty normal for him, but he also was wearing the shorts he had on under his costume, and an old worn t-shirt. Hayley was in a dress, but she at least had on her shoes and a pair of tights.

I didn’t know what to expect though as we came out of the woods, I had heard stories of camp from the Valdez’s, the Grace’s, and even Percy and Annabeth and their children. They hadn’t even made an impact to the real thing, even in the dark, I was still amazed. The grounds were covered in a thin layer of frost, and it was a moonless night, but I could still make out a huge field full of strawberry patches, a horseshoe ring of cabins, all with glittering dancing lights wrapped around them, and the Big House.

Malcolm was leading us to the bright green Big House, like the cabins in the valley, it also had flickering glitter lights wrapped around its porch. Though once we got closer, I saw that the lights were actually fire, and while it gave off plenty of heat, it didn’t catch the house on fire, just like magic.

Cleo stirred slightly in Henry’s arms, but not enough to wake. Malcolm walked into the house, his bare feet not making a sound. He led us upstairs and told us to take a room, and to meet him outside on the porch in the morning, then he did the same for Hayley.

**~MFJ~**

Camp was even more beautiful in the day light, the frost glittered like dew on the grass, and I could see each of the different cabins. I had been excited when I woke up, and I had decided to walk around the camp before anyone else woke up, or at least I thought I was the only one up. I had found Hayley dressed in a pair of jeans and one of the camp T-shirts when I walked out to the porch. I had found similar clothes set out for myself, but had thrown my jacket on top of my clothes.

“You mind going for a walk?” I asked her, looking at the weak sunrise.

“Sure,” she said, and pulled something on around her shoulders, it was a hoodie, I wondered where she got it.

We walked mostly in silence, looking at the cabins, the amphitheater, and the climbing wall that had lava coming out of it. This was the world that Percy and Annabeth knew, that my own daughter would get to know.

“Is Malcolm,” she paused then, as if gathering her thoughts, “is Malcolm sincere? Like does he mean what he says?”

“Yeah,” I said trying to think of a time when he ever lied to me or anyone, “he’s one of the most honest people I know.”

“How do you know him, he never really told me,” she said, as we walked over a sand dune, and looked out at the Long Island Sound. “And you said that you use to keep him and his sister safe. You were also at his grandparent’s house the other day too.”

“I’m his aunt, my older brother Percy is his father, there’s about a seventeen year age difference between us, so I understand if it seems confusing,” I told her, as I sat down on the sand dune, Hayley sat down beside me. “Percy’s father, Poseidon met our mother when she was eighteen, then she had Percy. Mom went through a lot of trouble with Percy, he doesn’t have the most common sense, but he’s my older brother. Annabeth, Malcolm’s mom, is pretty much like my older sister, they were dating before I was even born, and I even used to get mistaken as their daughter at the time.”

“Wow, that’s pretty crazy,” she said, I smiled.

“Yeah, but that’s family. I never would’ve been born if it wasn’t for Percy, never would have met Hermes either,” I told her, thinking of Cleo, thinking of what I needed to tell Hermes.

Hayley sighed then, and I turned to look at her, her hair looked more red than blonde in the sunlight, more like fire. She was everything that would make Malcolm better, she was passionate, loud, and ambitious in a way I had never seen before.

“The only reason why I came out here, was because I had this really vivid dream the night my mother died. I saw myself walking into a theatre with a man who had black hair and green eyes, and the sign above the theatre said, _When You’re Home: An Original Musical by Hayley Shine and Malcolm Jackson_. Then when I woke up, there was a one way ticket to New York, when I went to tell my mom, that’s when I found her, with spikes in her chest.”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she tucked herself into my arms. I felt myself start to cry with her.

**~MFJ – Five Months Later~**

I groaned as I pulled myself up off of my couch, only a few weeks more before David would be here. Hermes had left camp after that morning, when Hayley and I met him, Cleo, and Malcolm at the dining pavilion. I had finally got the nerve to tell him what I had known for the last month, which was that I was pregnant. He had left after eating breakfast with Cleo and his other children. Malcolm had sat with a few kids that looked just like him, with the same messy dark hair and blue-green eyes. While Hayley had sat with a few blonde haired kids that had similar features to her.

I opened the door, to see Malcolm on the other side, he had gotten into every school he applied to just on his SAT scores alone. He also got a fair amount of scholarships for swimming, but he had finally settled on NYU’s creative writing program, which had surprised everyone except me.

There was no rule that said he couldn’t write in Ancient Greek, then translate it later.

“Malcom,” I said, taking a step back to let him in, “get in here.”

“Thanks,” he said with a full teeth smile as he walked in and slipped off his shoes, “this was sitting outside your door.”

I sighed at the sight of the package in his hands, Hermes had sent something every day since he left us at camp. Every day was something new, from toys to books to clothes he had almost single handedly put together David’s nursery.

I took the package from him, and set it down on the kitchen counter for Cleo to open when she got home from school. Malcolm was a few days away from graduation, which meant that school really didn’t matter much for him, today was his senior skip day or something.

“Where’s Hayley?” I asked him, thinking of his partner (no girlfriend) in crime.

“Bianca and mom kidnapped her.”

I laughed, imagining what the three of them could possibly be doing. But maybe that was why they did it, after Hayley had found out she was a demigod, she moved into the Jackson’s house. Claiming that it was awkward at the Solace’s since she found out that Will was technically her older brother.

“I warned her ahead of time,” he said flopping down on the couch, I sat down beside him.

“Well then it’ll only be her own fault,” I told him, he laughed this time.

Once he calmed down, he turned to me, completely serious. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, anything,” I said, turning off the TV.

“Why did you cast me as Tony in _West Side Story_?”

“Because I knew you would do a great job,” I told him, confused why he would ask this, “you have more potential than you think, Malcolm.”

“Yeah, but you know I can’t read,” he said, and I saw the nervousness in his eyes.

“But you still learned your lines,” I told him, in all seriousness, “you still played the part and got the girl in the end.”

He blushed, and the seriousness of the conversation evaporated. “You’re right, thanks Estelle.”

“That’s Aunt Estelle to you,” I told him, pulling him into a hug, or as best as I could.

He snorted like Annabeth did when she tried to not to laugh, “sure thing, Auntie.”

“Look Malcolm,” I said, pulling away to look him in the eyes, “you’re going to be a great play write someday, and I know it’ll be hard getting there, but you’re not a background character, you deserve center stage.”

He smiled at me, then stood up and held out a hand to me. “Come on, I need to get you to a surprise baby shower.”

“So much for the surprise then.”

“Yeah, well, dad wanted to have it at the aquarium so we settled at Lucas’ new place,” he said, as he helped me up off the couch.

“As long as I don’t get any more blankets I’ll be happy,” I told him, he smiled at me.

“No promises,” he said, and I knew that his words had more meaning than that. Life itself was no promises, but the ones that we kept, those were the special ones.

Like the one I made to Apollo, to help make Malcolm into the performer and writer.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you thought, thanks!


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